freedom fighting – Croatia, the War, and the Future

Zvonko Busic – “take care of our homeland Croatia”

Freedom-fighting, whether personal or for people as a nation, as an ethnic group …, has to my convictions always been the noblest of pursuits a person can follow and act upon in life. Only the bravest take the fight to the most revered and yet most difficult of levels. During the past week I came across an article on the late Zvonko Busic whose name has been known the many households across the world. He and his associates did everything they could, at their personal peril, in the circumstances of inaccessibility to mainstream media during the 1970’s to make known to the world of the horrors Croats in Croatia were living under the boot of the communist Yugoslavia regime. I have translated this article into English for you from Narod.hr portal and trust it will enlighten you further about the long-standing, exhausting, painful Croatian plight for freedom. Ina Vukic

On this day (Janury 23) in 1946, in Gorica (Herzegovina), one of the greatest fighters for the freedom of the Croatian people during 1970’s onwards, prisoner and martyr Zvonko Busic-Taik, was born. He dedicated his whole life to that struggle, which is why he spent 32 years in prison.

Zvonko Busic considered former Yugoslavia to be a country that keeps Croats in the double chains of death – communism and Greater Serbia. (As facts of history would have it, so did 93.24% of Croatian voters at the Independence Referendum of May 1991.)

Plane hijacking!

On September 10, 1976, a group of Croatian patriots, consisting of Zvonko and Julienne Busic, Petar Matanic, Frane Pesut and Slobodan Vlasic, hijacked a passenger plane (TWA) Boeing 727. The intention of this group of Croatian dissidents was to drop leaflets over London and Paris from the plane. The leaflets were titled “Call to fight against Serbian hegemony”. The world had to be informed about the horrors that was occurring in Yugoslavia for over 30 years.

The group didn’t have any weapons on the plane, and one bomb was left in a subway station locker in New York (Grand Central Terminal). Informational material describing the terrible state of human and national rights of Croats in Yugoslavia was also left there as well as about persecution and numerous murders of political and other opponents of the Yugoslav regime. The purpose of this was to make this news appear on the front pages of the world’s largest media. Indeed, that did happen. At last the numerous murders, tortures, surveillance and persecution of every Croatian, anti-communist thought or consciousness in the sinister dungeon of nations – Yugoslavia – were finally revealed to the world.

However, during the attempt to defuse that bomb (in New York), American police officer Brian Murray was killed.

The meaning of the kidnapping

“Their action of hijacking the plane had only one goal, and that is to show the world the truth about the situation in Yugoslavia. The terror being perpetrated against Croats, including the murders of about a hundred political emigrants. The hijacking of the plane was intended to get the Declaration that speaks of the Croatian truth published in all major world newspapers. It was no terrorism,” Tihomir Dujmovic said, adding that no weapons were used in the kidnapping. Kidnapped passengers appeared in the courtroom as witnesses in favour of Zvonko and Julienne, which is the first and only such case. “During the kidnapping, they explained the Croatian story to the passengers, assured them that everything would be fine and that it was not terrorism. The idea was to drop leaflets from planes over New York, Chicago, Paris and London. That happened and it was a great defeat for Yugoslavia. The plan was to drop leaflets over Zagreb and Split. However, then the Yugoslav leadership headed by Tito said that if the plane entered Yugoslav airspace, they would shoot it down. That’s why that plane landed in Paris. Zvonko then received information that the media had published their Declaration on Croatia’s position. Then the kidnapping stopped immediately.

From left to right: Zvonko Busic, Marko Vlasic, Petar Matanic, Frane Pesut and Julienne Busic after arrest at Paris Airport. There are detectives behind them. Photo: The New York Times, September 13, 1976. | Photo: New York Times/archive

An inexplicable case

Zvonko Busic had no intention of killing anyone, and we know that the intention of terrorists is primarily to kill. There is no idea of murder here. Busic explained to the New York police three times what was in the improvised explosive device (and how to detonate it safely). Interestingly, the pressure-cooker pot with the device fell on the floor several times and did not explode because it was not even designed to explode. The police removed that device from the locker and took it to a detonation site 35 kilometres away. Four hours later, after everything (the police went about dismantling the device rather than detonating it), there was an explosion under conditions that are completely inexplicable. It turned out that the procedure was violated, that there was no protective clothing. That unfortunate policeman died unfortunately by accident because he went there uninvited. Zvonko carried him in his soul all his life, and later he founded a foundation for the education of his children. Everything he received from Croatian immigrants he passed on to that Foundation,” said Tihomir Dujmovic, the author of the book “Who Killed Zvonko Busic”, during the presentation of the book.

Judgment

In the verdict, the judge emphasises: Busic is not a terrorist and a criminal.

When pronouncing the verdict on Zvonko Busic, the judge stated on the record that Mr. Busic “is not a terrorist nor a criminal”. His actions, though misguided, were motivated by noble ideals. On that occasion, the judge stated that the injury to other persons was completely unintentional. He requested that Busic be released on parole after serving a ten-year sentence.

The pressures of Yugoslav diplomacy were visible at the trial when District Judge John Bartels in New York sentenced Zvonko and Julienne Busic to life imprisonment. Also, multi-year prison terms for the rest of the group.

According to the statements of White House employees at the time, the Yugoslav government exerted strong and successful pressure on the US Department of State to deal harshly with Zvonko Busic and his group.

Nonetheless, the wife of the deceased policeman believed that the truth was different. She initiated legal proceedings against the relevant police authorities. All this because of the great negligence they showed, and she condemned their willingness to shift all the blame to Busic, while portraying her husband as a victim of “terrorists”.

The Croatian state had been asking for the release of Zvonko Busic for years

Ever since the declaration of independence in 1991, the Republic of Croatia, with the plebiscite support of the Croatian people, had been trying to obtain the release of its most famous freedom-fighter and transfer him to his homeland. Our country, Croaia, met all the legal requirements that the American side requested, but the transfer of Busic to Croatia did not happen.

After a series of pressures from the Croatian authorities and protests by the Croatian public in front of the American embassy, at the session of December 13, 2002, the Croatian Parliament adopted a Resolution on the transfer of Zvonko Busic to Croatia, which was then submitted to the Council of Europe.

Zvonko Busic returned to Croatia on July 24, 2008, and was welcomed at Zagreb Airport as a hero and freedom-fighter. Busic was welcomed at the airport by politicians Drazen Budisa and Anto Kovacevic, singer Marko Perkovic Thompson and several hundred citizens. A few days later, Busic was given a big welcome in Imotski and his native Gorica in neighbouring Herzegovina.

Since his return to Croatia, he lived in the village of Rovanjska, in the municipality of Jasenice.

Poignant text on the tombstone of a patriot

On September 1, 2013, Busic committed suicide by shooting himself with a gun. He left two farewell letters to the Croatian people, whom he loved from the deepest depths of his noble and strong Herzegovinian heart. In them, he states that “he could no longer live in Plato’s cave” and that “it was easier for him to dream of a free Croatia than to endure the Croatian reality”.

“For those who fell in the fight for the homeland, never say that they are dead. They are heroes and they will always be alive for us. In the future, when you enjoy the blessings and beauty of the Croatian homeland and freedom, few will remember how much sweat, tears and blood was shed for your freedom. So …, stop, remember, and say a short prayer for those good patriots who suffered and died so that Croatia would live. My personal fate was such that I had to experience the realisation of my dreams of freedom in prison. Goodbye friends ,.. take care of our homeland Croatia” – says the inscription on the tombstone of the giant of the Croatian struggle for freedom, Zvonko Busic.

Zvonko and Julienne Busic/ Photo: Facebook

The love of Zvonko and Julienne

Zvonka was adorned with immense love for his country and his people, who moaned in pain under the Great Serbian and communist boot in Yugoslavia. It was this ideal, this faith, this hope Zvonko carried inside of him that attracted the heart of the young American Julienne Schultz.

From that affection was born an incredible and unique story about the love of a husband and wife and love for the homeland and the people.

To frequent questions about how, as an American, she was so involved in freedom and the fight for Croatia, she would answer: “Loving my husband, I loved everything he loved.” Zvonko Busic loved Croatia immeasurably, and Julienne also grew to love Croatia as her homeland.

Julienne Busic faithfully waited for the love of her life, an idealist and hero of the Croatian struggle for freedom from the communist dictatorship, for 32 long years.

Recognition and Justice Still Missing For Courageous Freedom Fighting During Cold War Era – Double Standards In Treating Freedom Fighters Prevail As Seen Through World’s Characterisation of Croatia’s Zvonko Busic and South Africa’s Nelson Mandela’s Activism

Zvonko Busic/ Photo: Facebook, Ivica Ursić

Friday 1st September 2023 marked the tenth anniversary of Zvonko Busic’s death in Croatia. It can be said with certainty that watching former communists of Yugoslavia or their indoctrinated offspring creep into and take over the government of independent Croatia that fought fiercely and lost lives for its independence from communist Yugoslavia he took his own life in despair. Certainly, Zvonko Busic dedicated his whole adult life to freedom of Croatia from communism and Yugoslavia, for freedom, democracy, and human rights. Charged with air piracy, kidnapping, second degree murder, convicted by Brooklyn court, New York, in 1977 of hijacking a plane and planting explosives that, through members of New York Police Department’s reportedly reckless disregard for Busic’s instructions as to how to safely defuse the explosives, killed one policeman (Brian Murray) and injured three others, he served 32 years in an American prison and paroled in 2008 for good behaviour whence he returned to Croatia. Freedom fight activities and events in which he participated or led and was convicted of and sentenced for were all political activist pursuits for freedom of Croatia from communist oppression during the Cold War years were practically the only activities bar military coups that spoke the loudest towards achieving changes to governments. Certainly, there was no internet or social media to spread the message widely as post-Cold War years have brought.

Zvonko Busic and his colleagues formed a remarkable group of men (Zvonko Busic, Frane Pesut, Petar Matanic and Mark Vlasic; the latter three released from prison served for related convictions in 1988) and one woman (Julienne Eden Busic, Zvonko Busic’s American spouse, released from prison for related convictions in 1989) who championed the fight for Croatian independence (from communist Yugoslavia) on the international stage during the Cold War era when freedom activism often had to resort to bold actions that would attract the world’s attention. Hence, on September 10, 1976, Zvonko Busic and his group hijacked TWA Flight 355 flying from New York to Chicago with about 80 passengers and crew members on board. According to Busic’s group’s publicised by the media statements at the time they wanted to draw attention to Croatia’s bid for independence from communist-led Yugoslavia. Soon after the plane took off from New York’s La Guardia Airport, Zvonko Busic sent word to the pilot that he had planted bombs aboard the plane and another in a locker at New York’s Grand Central railway station. Zvonko Busic also provided instructions as to how that bomb must be defused to avoid explosion, but New York Police Officer Brian J. Murray, disregarded those instructions and, sadly, was killed and three others were seriously injured as they tried to defuse the device from the locker, which they had taken to a demolition range in the Bronx. The hijackers also said another bomb would go off “somewhere in the United States” unless a statement (they prepared) about Croatian independence was published and appeared on front pages and prominently in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and The International Herald Tribune.

The hijackers instructed the pilots of the Boeing 727 to fly to Montreal, then London and Paris. At one refuelling stop in Gander, Newfoundland, they released 35 passengers that were by then deemed hostages. The plane eventually landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris, where authorities slashed the jet’s tyres. When the hijackers confirmed that their statements had been printed by the newspapers, they surrendered.

“I did not do this act out of adventuristic or terroristic impulses,” Zvonko Busic told the court in New York before receiving his sentence. “It was simply the scream of a disenfranchised and persecuted man. If I had ever imagined that anyone could have been hurt,” he added, “I would never, even if it had cost me anonymous death at Yugoslav hands, embarked on that flight.”

Every time many ponder upon or remember Zvonko Busic and his fellow activists for freedom of Croatia from brutal and oppressive communist Yugoslavia regime and how their courageous activities for Croatian freedom on the world’s scene in essence contributed to the eventual international recognition of Croatian independence in late 1991/1992 they cannot but taste the bitter injustice served upon their heroism by the very country for whose freedom they fought and by the world. That is undoubtedly, in my mind, because Croatian hard-won freedom from communism has gradually been marred by continued and persistent communist activism. One cannot but compare Zvonko Busic’s activities for freedom from communism to those of Nelson Mandela, for instance, for freedom from white rule in South Africa during 1960’s and conclude that it was Mandela’s and not Busic’s actions that were truly terrorist – Mandela’s eventually resulted in thousands of deaths. Mandela had strong ties to communism, an ideology responsible for more death and destruction over the last century than any other political movement; over 100 million murdered in fact. One cannot but wonder in distress whether Mandela’s association with communist ideology secured him a hero’s welcome on the world stage upon his release from prison to which he was sentenced for grave terrorist activities in South Africa and Busic’s absolute rejection and disdain for communism made him virtually “a marked man” for life and his actions stamped with terrorism even if they were merely brave freedom pursuits with no intended casualties and only one accidental. In December 2013, at the time of his death, the world honoured Nelson Mandela as one of the greatest heroes of our time. US President Barrack Obama even called him “the last great liberator of the 20th century!” Yet amidst all of this praise for a man who helped bring down the white government in South Africa, almost nobody mentioned his activities before becoming South Africa’s post-apartheid president in 1994.

Nelson Mandela headed up a truly terrorist organisation during 1960’s that was responsible for thousands of deaths. In 1961, Mandela was the founder of Umkhonto we Siswe (”Spear of the People”), ANC’s (African National Congress) terrorist arm, and never during all the time he was in prison did he condemn that organisation’s acts of indiscriminate terrorism against civilians.

Catapulted, undoubtedly by the left political plethora of lobbyists, onto the world’s platform from the dungeons of dangerous terrorists as a hero of freedom fighting throughout his life, Mandela nevertheless had a habit of saying that he was “not a saint,” as TIME Magazine noted in his 2013 obituary. Perhaps more surprisingly from today’s perspective, many people around the world felt the same way. In fact, Mandela remained on U.S. terrorist watch lists until 2008.

Decades had passed since “violence” was a means to an end during the Cold War years, the end being freedom from oppression and cruelty of governments or regimes and the “free world” became increasingly attuned to the injustice being perpetrated in South Africa and yet the case is not the same for the injustice perpetrated against Croats by communist Yugoslavia. The Croatian history about freedom from communist regime of Yugoslavia and the many freedom fighters it has seen during the Cold War years in particular, must address the courage of those such as Zvonko Busic and his collaborators for freedom and democracy (whose freedom-fighting activities continue as subjects for many world’s leading mainstream media outlets), otherwise there will be no political reconciliation for true justice anywhere in the world – double standards will continue poisoning the righteousness of self-determination of a nation for freedom from fear and oppression. Ina Vukic